CASE STUDY :

A3D TOOK ON A CHALLENGE WITH

A JOB THAT REQUIRED, AN UPSIDE

DOWN TANK SURVEY

UPSIDE DOWN TANK SURVEY

A major LPG supplier in the country asked us to look at surveying one of their out of service tanks, but there was a catch. The tanks only access points were through the roof, the only way of gaining access was abseiling down. All of A3D surveyors have first aid, CCNSG Training and confined space training but no rope access training.

To have us lowered down into the tank, with our kit was going to prove expensive and risky; so we were asked to look into viable options. After some planning we worked out that surveying the tank from the top would be fairly easy with the help of an inverted tripod, but what was going to cause issues was being able to link the internal scans with the outer scans.

Graham designed three brackets that would hang over the side of the roofs man way, which could hold 145mm spheres at different heights, but due to the narrow 36″ entrance, this wouldn’t be enough for an accurate register of the point cloud. So we devised to use the pipework that penetrated the tank as registration markers, which allowed us to accurately link the internal scan with the outside scans.

When A3D survey team arrived, we sat down discussed the plan of operation with the rope access / safety team, went through the local induction and our RAMS documents. The laser scanning gear that was carried up the tank, consisted of a Faro Focus, Inverted Tripod, 6x 145mm Spheres 3x 200mm Spheres.

The scanner was placed on the underside of the tripod and the rope access crew, safely positioned the feet of the tripod into the bolt holes of the manway. Once the safety team was happy A3D lowered the scanner down into the tank and wirelessly started the scan via a laptop.

Once the internal 30-minute internal scan was finished, the scanner was winched up and the second scan was completed to survey in the internal reference spheres and the new external spheres; this allowed us to survey the tank roof from the outside.

Once the roof was finished we used our large 200mm spheres to survey down to the ground and from there we were able to survey the outside plates and pipework. The scan data was later used for a full internal and external tank analysis report, for vertical and radial alignment.The full survey only took 8 hours and A3D look forward to working with the LPG supplier again.

“The scanner was placed on the underside of the tripod and the rope access crew, safely positioned the feet of the tripod into the bolt holes of the man way. Once the safety team was happy A3D lowered the scanner down into the tank and WIRELESSLY started the scan.”

GALLERY PICTURES

JOB BREAKDOWN

PRE-pLANNING

A3D will complete pre-planning in order to determine the most efficient and therefore, cost effective solution.

RISK & METHOD STATEMENTS

A3D recognise that any form of site work on an operating site must be subject of both RAMS along with planning documents in order to expedite an efficient and safe survey.

3D Laser scan

Recognised as the referred method for accurately capturing measured site data in using 3D laser scanning instruments. Traditional methods being time consuming and subject to error.

registerscan data

Ounce A3D has been out on site with the 3D Laser Scanners we then process the scan using faro scene software.

tank analysis

Point cloud data gets positioned against a 3D primitive and the data is analyzed to produce a range of outputs.

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CLIENT BENEFITS

A3D are proud to have established point cloud technologies, now recognised as the preferred method for accurately capturing measured site data in using 3D laser scanning instruments. Traditional methods being time consuming and subject to error,

The vast engineering experience from over 30 years working within process industries has resulted in A3D now leading in the production of ‘brown field’ technical process models. A3D recognised the importance of our skilled 3D laser surveyors site familiarity.

Piping and instrumentation diagrams (P&IDs) are considered a fundamental requirement for companies operating a process operation. P&IDs play a significant role in the maintenance and modification of the process that it describes and should be maintained

For bulk storage operators capturing accurate tank data is an integral part of ensuring efficient day to day running of your facility. Be it for production, engineering, maintenance or health & safety, having a level of recorded information that can be…

A3D are proud to have been instrumental in advancing the engineering industry from traditional 2D to the growing opportunities afforded by our 3D technologies. As a result of our marketing, the majority of engineers and managers working in

Webshare is freely available software offering powerful facilities for use with scan files. An intuitive overview map presents scans arranged as a ‘birds-eye’ view of your plant. Webshare enables you to walk your site from your PC, record measurements, annotate

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